Chapter 5 – Research methods and hypothesis
5.7 Research objectives
This section sets out the detailed objectives of my research and how the methods described above contribute to achieving them.
Objective #1: Analyse the position taken and influence wielded on tobacco policy by different groups within government before 1989
An organisational analysis of the structure of government in communist Poland was carried out in order to identify which ministries and branches of bureaucracy were relevant to tobacco debates in the country. A review of the historical literature on this topic was conducted in the National Library of Poland. It was followed by an analysis of sources pertaining to tobacco control and anti- tobacco legislation drawn from the archival collections of the Polish government and ministries, as well as the records of the state tobacco monopoly and tobacco farmers, contained in the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN). The documentary sources were complemented by interviews with PZPR politicians active in the 1980s. These data were interrogated to explore the engagement of the authorities with the evidence of tobacco-related harm that was then emerging, and the ways in which they used the extensive power of the communist state prior to 1989 to advance tobacco control in Poland (see Chapter 6).
Objective #2: Examine and analyse the strategies adopted by anti-tobacco advocates, and the position taken on tobacco policy by civil society groups antagonistic to the authorities, before 1989
A review of official, state-sanctioned Polish medical and public health journals and health promotion materials from the period, held in the Warsaw Cancer Centre and the Wilanów Poster Museum in Warsaw, was carried out, as well as a review of the communist-era press (available in BN). These documentary sources were complemented by interviews with members of state- sanctioned health advocacy groups from the pre-1989 period. They were interrogated to ascertain the extent of anti-tobacco advocacy and lobbying in communist Poland, and the degree of freedom that civic movements were granted to conduct anti-tobacco campaigns. In addition, an analysis of sources pertaining to Solidarity drawn from the IPN archive, and a review of the most influential Catholic newspaper in Poland, ‘Tygodnik Powszechny’ and the Seventh-day Adventist Church publication ‘Znaki Czasu’ (available in the BN), were carried out, as were interviews with prominent members of both organisations. The evidence obtained provided insight into the use that the largest anti-communist organisations made of the issue of tobacco harm in their struggle against
117 the regime, and how they saw their role in shaping tobacco policy and popular attitudes towards smoking in Poland (see Chapter 7).
Objective #3: Examine and analyse the strategies adopted by TTCs to increase smoking prevalence and lobby for favourable tobacco policy in Poland, as well as the position of Polish tobacco farmers, after 1989.
This objective was addressed principally by an analysis of sources yielded by targeted searches in the online Truth Tobacco Industry Documents library, as well as interviews with senior stakeholders involved in the expansion of TTCs into CEE in the 1990s. These sources made it possible to examine the actions of TTCs after they entered the Polish market, as well as their perception of the causes of their failure to prevent the decrease of smoking prevalence and the methods used to lobby for tobacco-friendly legislation in the Polish Parliament. These sources also gave the industry’s perspective on the role of independent health advocacy groups in precipitating those setbacks to their goals (see Chapter 8).
Objective #4: Analyse the position taken and influence wielded on tobacco policy of different groups within government after 1989
An organisational analysis of the structure of government in post-communist Poland was carried out in order to identify which ministries and branches of state administration were most engaged in tobacco debates in the country. A review of the historical literature on the topic was carried out in the Polish National Library in Warsaw. This was followed by an analysis of sources drawn from the archival collections of the Polish Parliament. These documentary sources were complemented by witness testimonies and interviews with key members of the political establishment who participated in drafting and passing of the progressive tobacco legislations in 1995 and 1999. These data were interrogated to explore the engagement of the authorities with the evidence of tobacco- related harm and with anti-tobacco advocacy groups post-1989 (see Chapter 10).
Objective #5: Examine and analyse the strategies adopted by anti-tobacco advocates to decrease smoking prevalence and lobby for comprehensive tobacco policy in Poland, and the position taken on tobacco policy by other civil society groups after 1989
Interviews were conducted with key figures from the medical, scientific, and health promotion fields, as well as Catholic Church leaders who were involved in anti-tobacco advocacy efforts of the 1990s, and foreign experts who supported their efforts. These interviews made it possible to understand how political constraints on anti-tobacco activism were loosened after the collapse of
118 the communist system, and what methods the activists employed in raising health awareness and lobbying politicians in the new reality of a pluralist democracy, despite opposition of the TTCs. In addition, a review of Polish medical and public health journals, and health promotion materials from the period, held in the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Cancer Centre and the Wilanów Poster Museum in Warsaw, was conducted, as well as a review of the two main Polish daily newspapers, Gazeta Wyborcza and Rzeczpospolita (available in BN) (see Chapter 9).
Objective #6: Draw conclusions concerning the impact of the different stakeholders on the formulation of tobacco policy in Poland, and identify what insights from the Polish case could be useful for tobacco control advocates working in countries in which the market is now undergoing a process of liberalisation.
The final objective was addressed by combining the evidence gathered using the aforementioned methods with data on tobacco production, sale, and consumption collected by the Polish Central Statistical Office, as well data collected by the Maria-Curie Institute of Oncology in Warsaw on the individual attitudes of Poles towards smoking and their changing understanding of tobacco harm. The conceptual framework, drawing on theories including Kingdon’s process streams model, Leichter’s accounting scheme, Hall’s bounded pluralism, and Sabatier’s Advocacy Coalition Framework, was used to identify the key factors underlying policy change in tobacco control in Poland. Secondary literature developments in tobacco control policy in other CEE countries was used to couch the Polish case in a regional perspective. Finally, an attempt was made to draw analytical lessons that could be drawn from the Polish case for countries in which market liberalisation has not yet occurred or is in progress, reflecting the Polish situation in the 1990s (see Chapter 11).
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